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Portsmouth woman faces up to life in prison in fatal overdose

By JAMES A. KIMBLEUnion Leader Correspondent

BRENTWOOD – A Portsmouth woman could face up to life in prison for allegedly selling a fatal dose of heroin to a 22-year-old woman in November.

Jennifer Landry, 41, was indicted by a Rockingham County grand jury on a single count of sale of a controlled drug — death resulting for allegedly causing the death of Svetlana Filippenko on Nov. 20, prosecutors said.

Landry, who is being held at the Rockingham County jail, also faces a lesser charge of sale of a controlled drug for selling the $45 dose of heroin to Filippenko.

The indictments come six months after Landry was arrested in Portland, Maine, on a drug-sales charge related to the case.

A grand jury returned the two charges earlier this month. They became public late Friday.

Filippenko was found dead by Portsmouth police after she ingested the drugs at her Ocean Road apartment, according to police.

The state medical examiner’s office concluded that Filippenko’s death was accidental but caused by "acute heroin intoxication," according to police.

Police say that Filippenko was found dead Nov. 21 by a family member who went in her bedroom to shut off an alarm clock.

Detectives interviewed friends of Filippenko and used text messages collected from Landry’s cellphone to identify her as the person who sold the heroin, according to court records.

Landry allegedly told Filippenko in one message that the heroin was "twice as strong" as what she had sold to her before, according to police.

Landry also sent another text message to Filippenko after allegedly selling her the drugs, saying, "Be careful hun…" Landry later admitted to police during an interview on Dec. 12 that she sold heroin to Filippenko, police said.

Landry is being held on $50,000 cash bail. She will be arraigned on the charges later this month in Rockingham County Superior Court.